The Howling
by Wintermoth
Summary: "Whoever you're shouting for, they'll never hear you."
1. Chapter 1

**Started for the angst meme on tumblr. Prompt: "Please come get me" requested by anon.  
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><p><em>Please come get me.<em>

No light, no dark. Every color and none at all. Solid white and solid black at the same time. No time. No sound. No sensation. No beginning, no end. The Void was the Void. Nothing more.

She didn't know how long it had been since she'd fallen. There was no time in the void so it could've just happened, could've happened eons ago, or maybe it was still happening. Maybe she was still falling and would continue to do so forever. There was no wind, no ground, no anything. She couldn't feel her own heart beating.

The last thing she'd seen was the Doctor clinging to the clamp in that horrible white room. Then things had shimmered and everything had hurt and she'd shut her eyes. She hadn't opened them since. She retained enough self-awareness to know she hadn't moved those muscles since then. She knew, somehow, that if she opened her eyes the startling reality of where she was would hit and she would go mad. As long as she kept her eyes shut she would keep herself.

Speaking was impossible. All she had was thought.

_Please, please,_ she begged, wishing, hoping, praying that the Doctor—anyone—would hear. _Please come get me. Please find me. _

There were others in the Void. She could sense them. Beings of reality did not belong in the Void. Like could sense like. Some of them she knew were evil—Cybermen, Daleks—and her desire to never meet with them kept them at bay—most, she could tell were different from her in ways she could not explain. Not of her universe. Some were.

_Find me, Doctor. Find me. Oh, God, someone, anyone, please, find me._

She just wanted out of this. She didn't care if she couldn't go back to her own universe and the Doctor again. She just wanted to be in a universe. Any universe. A universe where humans never came to be would be better than this. Anything would be better than this.

She wondered if she was slowly going mad in the emptiness. She clung to her memories with all her might because they were all she had. Reliving them was her only relief. Would her memories eventually fade? Would she forget her mum? The Doctor? What would become of her then?

At the end of time and the universes, would she finally end as well?

_You know there's really no point. _

That was not her voice. She knew her voice and that was not it. She had not thought that. That was not her thought. It had originated elsewhere. There was…another. Another trapped in the Void was near her. Relatively speaking since the voice was infinite and yet smaller than an atom. This other was one of the few from her own universe. Perhaps that was what drew them together.

_What?_ she thought.

_Calling out. _

_How else is he going to find me?_

_We're in the Void. No one can find us._

_He can. I know he can. He'll find a way in. He'll find me._

The voice sighed patiently. _Time may seem to pass for us but if someone from reality were to gain access to the Void, all they would hear are the screams of everyone who's ever been and will ever be here, all a once, never ending. That is why the Eternals call it the Howling…or so the legend said. Whoever you're shouting for, they'll never hear you._

She would've sobbed if she could've. She'd known, of course, on some level, that finding her wouldn't be a walk in the park. But if he couldn't hear her, how could he find her?

_I'm sorry. I know hope is precious but I don't want to listen to you beg for something that won't ever come. …Believe me, I screamed for years._

_There's no time here, _Rose thought glumly.

_Not in the literal sense. But our minds track the duration of their existence, creating an individual, artificial sense of time. I screamed for years and years before I gave up._

_H-how long have I been screaming?_

_…You're human, right? You feel human._

_Yeah._

_I first heard you about…five of your months ago._

Five months?! God, had it really been that long? …Had it really only been _that _long? Five months in and she was beyond desperate. She couldn't handle eternity like this. She wanted to die. Death, even if it really was the absolute end of her existence, was better than this.

_I have been searching for you since. You're not the only one screaming, you know. I can hear all of them. I try to block them out but certain minds are stronger than others. Yours is unusually strong for a human's. Did you have regular contact with a telepathic being?_

_Two, actually._

_Well, that certainly explains it._

_What are you? What species?_

_Gallifreyan._

_…Get out. _She nearly opened her eyes in shock. Maybe if she did she'd see this other Gallifreyan. Or maybe she'd go mad. But a Gallifreyan!

_You've heard of us, then? _

_Heard of you! I live—lived with a Time Lord. We traveled all over the universe saving people and planets. That's how I ended up here. All 'cos I couldn't hold on tight enough. God, he watched me fall in…he looked so scared…_

The Time Lady's voice was silent for a few moments. _What's your name?_

It came as a sickening realization that she actually had to think about it. Her name should've been instinctual, something she knew better than anything. _Rose Tyler._

_Rose… what's the Time Lord's name?_

_The Doctor. …I know he wouldn't just let me go. He's gotta be looking for a way to get to me. I know he is._

Silence. Stretching on for the span of several minutes. Eventually, Rose became panicked, wondering if her only source of companionship had gone. Eternity would be bearable if she had another to spend it with but alone, the thought was terrifying.

_Where are you?_

_I'm here,_ the Time Lady assured her.

_Don't leave me…_

_I won't leave you, I promise. I was just thinking. He wouldn't know to come looking for me. He doesn't know I'm here. Probably thinks I'm dead, you know. But if he knows you're here then he'll come looking for you. It's just a matter of whether or not he can gather the correct resources and tools for such a venture. I don't know of many Time Lords that would assist him in a trip into the Void for a human but if I stay and he finds you, then he finds us. _

_You know him?_

_You could say that._ There was a hint of tiredness in the Time Lady's voice. _My name is Susan. I'm his granddaughter. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, lots of new faces. Hi y'all.**

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><p>It was a bit surreal, meeting the granddaughter of the man she loved. Rose knew he'd been a father and he'd confessed that his line went as far as a great grandson the last time he'd checked. He'd told her briefly of Susan, his granddaughter with whom he'd first run from Gallifrey. He didn't know what had become of her—he'd told her that outright. He didn't know if she'd fought in the Time War and died or had managed to stay out of it and had survived.<p>

"_I can't ever bring myself to go look. As long as I don't, there's still a chance she's alive and happy." _

Rose could not track the passage of "time" the way Susan could. She didn't know which of them had it better: the one who knew how long they'd been there or the one who didn't. There was madness in both. Susan never left her. Rose imagined them sitting side by side, gripping each other's hands so tightly that not even the Void could pull them apart.

It wasn't a bad way to pass eternity. It was better than being alone and slowly going mad. She didn't know what truly had drawn them together. Susan had spoken of searching for her—but how did one search in a place that was as infinite as it was finite? How was it that she was able to keep the evil in here away from herself but keep Susan close?

There were no answers to be found. Logic didn't exist here. Nothing existed in nothingness.

Rose told Susan of the Doctor these days. How they'd met, what the incarnation she'd known were like, some of their adventures. She was trying to decide how to tell her about being Bad Wolf. She avoided talking about the Time War, unsure of what exactly the other woman knew of the fate of her people. She admitted to being in love with the Doctor and thought that, maybe, he felt the same and Susan was utterly delighted.

Rose wondered how had Susan had ended up in the Void. Was this the fate of the Time Lords after the War? Did the Doctor know? But she could see no way of gaining the answers she wanted without broaching the topic of the Time War. Eventually, she decided to just go for it, knowing Susan would have to find out at some point.

_Are they all here? _Rose asked the Time Lady.

_Who?_

_The Time Lords._

_Goodness, no! _She exclaimed at once. _And be thankful. Dreadful bunch, the lot of them._

_Really?_ That was surprising. The Doctor had always made them seem so…great. A bit dusty, but still a magnificent race.

_We left for a reason. No, I expect they're all still on Gallifrey. They never leave. _

_You two did. _

Susan's laugh filled her mind. _Oh, there were some of us who left. They called us renegades and banished us from our Houses! Good riddance._

_But…I don't understand. How did you even end up here? He said you settled on Earth…_

_I did, _ she agreed. _I fell in love with a man._

_At the start of the War they ordered us all home. All hands on deck, all able-bodied soldiers to the front line, you know. I've never been a fighter. I refused until they came for me and threatened my son. They said he was Gallifreyan enough to be a foot soldier. I went quietly and they let him be. _

Anger simmered through Rose. _Bastards._

_I don't know what they thought I'd be able to do. I looked for Grandfather while I was on Gallifrey but they were having trouble locating him. I don't think he ever even knew I was called in to fight._

_He didn't, _ Rose confirmed. _He hasn't gone to look for you. He told me as long as he doesn't, there's still a chance you're alive and happy._

_Well. I'm alive, _Susan commented dryly.

They were silent for a while. Rose wasn't certain if Susan knew exactly what had become of her people. She seemed to believe they were still on Gallifrey

_How'd you end up here? _ Rose asked.

_The Could've Been King…_ Susan trailed off for a moment. _He had unleashed an army of Neverweres on a Asasa system. The General was ready to sacrifice the whole solar system to save our soldiers… Thirty Time Lords, Seventy-five Gallifreyans, 5000 Rukans, 803 Denores, and 1 Canai for the approximately seventy billion lives on the planets and she thought it was a necessary sacrifice. Unavoidable civilian casualties to ensure the continued survival of our army,_ she hissed bitterly. The time spent in the Void had not served to lessen her anger over what had nearly happened.

_I did the math and that would mean nearly six million people would die for every one of us that would live. I knew I could never live with myself if I let it happen and I knew what Grandfather would've done. So I convinced Tashator to open the Void and I lured them in myself. _

…_Your TARDIS is here? _

_No. I wasn't qualified to pilot one. I lured them into the Void with an escape pod. I think…you and I are similar in that regard._

_I didn't mean to fall into the Void, _Rose pointed out.

_No, but you risked falling in to save your world, the universe, and another, as well,_

Susan said. _One Time Lady for a legion of Neverweres. One human for millions of Cybermen and Daleks. One good life for the removal of countless evil ones, that seems to be the constant. _

Rose thought of the Doctor's regeneration after she'd destroyed the Dalek fleet on the Gamestation and realized Susan was right.

_Rose…_Susan began quietly. _You have knowledge of the War. Humans…humans are not high enough to have knowledge of it unless you—_

_Were in it._

_Were you?_

_Not exactly, no._ She wasn't ready to explain Bad Wolf yet._ But the Doctor told me a little about what happened. _

_And what did happen? _

Rose hesitated. She really didn't know how it ended. Obviously she'd been in here for some time if the Doctor had never seen her while he was fighting. Sh

Her silence had made Susan nervous. _Did it end?_

_Yes. _

_And we won?_ she asked hopefully.

_No one won, _ Rose whispered. Susan was silent for a moment.

_...The Time Lords?_

_Dead. And the Daleks, too. Everyone in the war, all of them at once. Except one._

_Grandfather?_

_Yeah. And not by choice. _

Susan was quiet for a short while. At least, it felt short to Rose. She said nothing in the meantime though she kept up the firm mental image of herself holding tightly to Susan. She wouldn't let go of her if it was the last thing she did.

_Then that means he was the one to do it,_ Susan murmured at last. _There's no other way he could live while all of them died like that. …I'm right, aren't I? Rose, please—it __**was**__ him, wasn't it?_

_Yes. _


End file.
